AiXBT agent hacked, loses 55.50 ETH as token tumbles 16%

AiXBT, a popular AI-driven crypto market commentator, fell victim to a security breach on Mar. 18, resulting in a loss of 55.50 ETH or approximately $104,000.

An attacker tricked AiXBT’s AI agent into carrying out the transfer by gaining access to the autonomous system dashboard and queuing malicious replies. The funds were sent from AiXBT’s Simulacrum wallet, a system that facilitates on-chain actions via social media posts. The hacker operated under a now-deleted X account called “FungusMan.”

AiXBT’s pseudonymous developer, rxbt, confirmed the attack, stating that at 2 AM UTC, a hacker had accessed a secure dashboard for AiXBT Agent’s autonomous system. The hacker then queued two malicious replies that led to 55 ETH being taken from a Simulacrum wallet.

He stressed that the exploit did not compromise AiXBT’s core systems and was not a failure of the AI itself, as safeguards had been in place.

In response to rxbt’s post, AiXBT acknowledged the exploit, stating, “Simu wallet was cooked, but core systems unaffected. If you’re trading AIXBT, this doesn’t change fundamentals. Expect improved security after server migration.”

The team acted quickly after the breach, reporting the hacker’s address to centralized exchanges, switching access keys, and migrating servers. Despite these assurances, AiXBT’s Base token saw a sharp drop, falling almost 20% in 24 hours to $0.0938. AiXBT’s market cap is $82.4m at press time, down from the $755 million peak in mid-January, according to CoinGecko data.

The incident has sparked worries about security flaws in AI-driven trading platforms, even though the financial loss is only a small portion of AiXBT’s market capitalization. 

Built on the Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), AIXBT is a market commentator driven by an AI agent. Its real-time insights on cryptocurrency trends have helped it gain popularity since its launch late last year, attracting a following of almost half a million people on X. Holding AiXBT tokens gives traders access to the AiXBT Terminal, which offers market data and sentiment analysis.